the one about Kentucky

Ok, so this is just funny. And yes, Janice. This is involves you! ;)

My friend Janice and her family moved to Kentucky last summer. She has been so bugged that they have closed school so many times because of snow. Being a Utah girl, she thinks that the little bit of snow is NOTHING compared to what she is used to. I realize that weather is much different there and one of their biggest problems is ice. So even though it just looks like a little skiff of snow, it is really thick, slick ice. They have ice storms and everything. Anyway, enough of that. If you want to read more, click on this link.

Anyway, today she sent me a text saying that they changed their Church schedule tomorrow from 9 until 1 and they are only having Sacrament meeting because they never plowed the parking lot and now it is pure ice. She was so annoyed by it. All three of us were in the car driving down the street when I got the text. I told Brett and we just started talking about how different the weather is, blah blah blah. It has been a huge topic of conversation lately because Janice keeps me updated on everything and the storms have been a big deal. Anyway, later this evening, Quayd was talking to Brett about the Kentucky storms. He said to his dad, "I guess it's kinda funny that they don't know how to deal with all of that snow in Kentucky. We are lucky because here in America we know exactly how to deal with it!" HaHaHaHa!!! I don't know where he thinks Kentucky is! He is so funny!

Check out this cool picture Janice took. It is a berry tree and all of the little berries are encased in ice, but it looks like glass. I think it is so beautiful. We love you Janice!! And we miss you! The Utah snow misses you too!!! Come back to America. ;)

the one about 37 new/odd things

I just saw this on Kandice's blog and I thought, "What the heck?!" When I clicked the button "new post" I noticed that this is my 237th post! Cool, huh. It was meant to be.

Survey, 37 new/odd things.

37 ODD Things about you! If you opened this, FILL IT OUT!
Learn 37 things about your friends, and let them learn 37 things about you!

1. Do you like bleu cheese? LOVE IT!!! Love it on salad, hot wings and more. I love it when the bleu cheese chunks are really big too. YUMMY!
2. Have you ever smoked? Never tried it. Not even one time. It just never even tempted me. I think it is so nasty. I hate it!! What a terrible habit.
3. Do you own a gun? Sorta. I bought Brett a shotgun for his Birthday a few years ago, so legally, Yes. I have a gun that is registered to me. Do I use one? No. I am, however the proud owner of a staple gun, price tag gun, and label maker gun thing. (Mostly all scrapbooking/cardmaking tools)
4. What flavor Kool Aid was your favorite? Tropical Punch. Still love it. Still drink it.
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Yes. I always think that they are going to think I am lying or something. And I never go for anything good, like pain pills or anything, but I do get scared that they are gonna turn me in or admit me or something.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? I love hot dogs. They are so yummy. I don't like all beef ones though. I like the ones that creep people out. Like the ones that are made of the hoof, ears, tails and whatever other body parts they throw in there and grind up.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? Toss up. Elf and The Grinch with Jim Carey.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Orange juice or milk.
9. Can you do push ups? More than one? Heck No!!!
10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My fave thing ever was my wedding ring. It was so beautiful and so me. But I lost it. :(
11. Favorite hobby? Blogging, reading, making cards, scrapbooking, playing on the computer, texting and eating.
12. Do you have A. D. D.? Yes. It's self-proclaimed-but anyone who knows me would agree! (Yes, Kandice. You do too!!!)
13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? I have them. Both of them. I don't wear them very often because they bug me. Actually I HATE contacts. With a passion. I pretty much only wear my glasses to read.
14. Middle name? Ann. Lots of people have it! It is a family name for us though.
15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: #1. I have gotta go grocery shopping... so what in the heck am I doing blogging. #2. I am excited to hang out with the Galley's tomorrow at Grandma's Birthday Party. #3. I need to go to town, but I don't want to get all fixed up. Can I pull it off and go ugly? My hair is pretty messy, but I think I am going to risk it.
16 Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Diet Pepsi, Water, Milk
17. Current worry? That we had our taxes prepared last night and we have to PAY!!! ALOT!
18. Current hate right now? Worrying about money. Same old crap.
19. Favorite place to be? In bed with my 2 fave boys, snuggling.
20. How did you bring in the New Year? In bed. Brett and Quayd were asleep. I was playing with my new iPod.
21. Where would you like to go? Anywhere but here in this winter HELL!
22. Name three people who will complete this. Maybe Tara, Cara and Chauntue'.
23. Do you own slippers? Yes, and I am wearing them now.
24. What color shirt are you wearing? My pink hoodie that these guys that were staying at the hotel had made for us. The guys were so cool! They stayed with us for a couple of months. We took really good care of them, so they had pink hoodies made for all of us girls with their company logo and info. Their logo is a bull dog with a hard hat, so they even made the hard hat pink. It is such a nice, big warm fluffy hoodie and I love it!!
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I don't think I ever have. I love to wear my silky stuff to bed because I love to roll around nice and easy, so I would probably love it. But maybe the silk on silk would create friction and I would create a spark and it would catch me on fire! Or I might fall out of bed! (That is more likely.) So I better just stick to cotton.
26. Can you whistle? Like a little bird
27. Where are you now? Living room at the computer
28. Would you be a pirate? Abso-friggin-loutley!!! I love talking like 'em, swearing like 'em (Don't judge me), drinking like 'em (sorry, but I love to swash buckle my diet pepsi ;)), I am fascinated with artificial limbs, eyeballs creep me out so patches are a good solution for me, I love warm stuff, like the sea, sand and beach, I love parrots that talk and I love expensive shiny things! And I love hanging out with these real live pirates! It's a pirates life for me!
29. What do you sing in the shower? I don't sing, however... I do like to dance in the shower. Sorry for the visual.
30. Favorite Girl's Name? Jetta
31. Favorite boy's name? Quayd, of course
32. What's in your pocket right now? a little bit of pink hoodie lint
33. Last thing that made you laugh? When I was typing all of that pirate stuff... I was giggling the whole time thinking of different peoples reactions to my warped sense of humor! I would actually hate being a pirate and anyone who knows me at all, knows that. I would be the worst pirate EVER!
34. What vehicle do you drive? PT cruiser
35. Worst injury you've ever had? Oh, how embarrassing... I broke my finger in 4th grade. That is all I got. I am not very adventurous, hence, few injuries.
36. Do you love where you live? I love my little house so much. I love the history and memories I have with this house. I love that I live right by my family (Brett would disagree on that part). I love that it is SO me. I love that Quayd lives right next door to his best buddy and cousin.
And I love that it is paid for. I really wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
37. How many TV's do you have in your house? 5, and one in my camp trailer.

the one about massive head wound harry

You all know how much I love Saturday Night Live. I think the two main reasons I love it so much is because.... #1. I love funny, weird and quirky things. Off the wall humor is totally my thing. #2. The sketches are short and you don't have to think much to get them. I have a little bit of Adult ADD so short, right to the point stuff is really my thing. I can reference nearly everything in my life to some SNL sketch. That is why you will find it no surprise that when my beautiful boy split his head open last night, I was able to reference it to this...

Massive Head Wound Harry Sketch

Poor Quayd. He was coming home from Brennen's house and it was just dark enough that he didn't see something hanging out of my brother's dumpster. Brett and I were just getting dinner on our plates and we heard a horrible scream. Quayd came running in with blood all over his head, face, hands and shirt. The cut wasn't as bad as it looked, but I was freaking out. It was a lot of blood. Brett and Quayd insisted that we didn't need to go to the doctor... so we didn't. I would have taken him.

When he first came in last night and he was totally freaking out, is all he wanted was his daddy and his "bear blank." When he is hurt or sick, he usually wants Brett because Brett will sit and snuggle him. I get to nervous and worried so I can't settle down. (Remember, Adult ADD?) So I get to be the "runner." I get ice packs, Sprite, etc.

Anyway, he is doing fine today. He has a big bump, lots of crusty blood and a headache, but it scabbed over and he went to school this morning. Poor Harry.

the one about the snow day

We had a CRAZY storm that started Sunday evening. We got close to a foot of snow in one night. There was so much snow we could bearly get out of our driveway. The roads were so slick! There was even an accident that involved a school bus and a police car! I got Quayd off to school and headed for work. It took me 20 minutes to get to work! I live less than 2 miles away. Anyway, just as I got there, I heard some news on the radio that we NEVER seem to hear in our neck of the woods..... They were closing school and declaring it a

SNOW DAY!

My boss, Tara and I all decided to avoid the confusion later and just go pick our kids up. We set aside a couple of rooms at the hotel and brought all of the kids here. I even picked up Brayden and Brennen. They were so excited! They got to swim, we ordered pizza and they just had fun hanging out. Tara and I were still able to work, and it is a good thing. We were so busy. So many people had to change travel plans because of the storm. The kids did come to visit us at the desk. They wanted treats and Quayd needed Q-tips. Our buddy Spencer even came down to enjoy the fun! These are taken in the breakfast roon during our pizza party.
And these are some pictures from their room.

They took a snow day at Airgas too so Brett came down to swim and play too.

the info about the Dentist

I have had several people ask about our Dentist. I hope he won't mind.... but here is the info.

Heber Children's Dentistry
Jeffrey Ellis
Pediatric Dental Specialist

435-654-5322

Seriously, this guy was AMAZING!!!! You probably have to have a referal, but it is so worth it!!! His receptionist was great too. She helped me by submitting all of the info and finding out exactly what I have to pay and stuff.

WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM!!!

the one about "shark boy" and the Dentist

My title sounds like some kind of a superhero cartoon episode! After you hear all about this... you will agree with me that my little shark boy IS a superhero.

Let me explain "shark boy." Remember a few weeks ago when I told you about Quayd's freaky teeth? I got a few comments telling me that it is not all that uncommon. I googled it and found some information. Some people call it "shark teeth" when that happens. Ever since I read that, we have been calling Quayd "Shark boy." I took him to the Dentist a couple of weeks ago, but since Quayd is so scared of the dentist, and he had a good amount of work to be done, they referred us to a specialist. Our Dentist was able to send all of the x-rays and stuff to the specialist, so we only had to see him once. That was so great to not have to travel out of town twice. Our appointment was Tuesday morning at 7:00 am. We went out on Monday and stayed, WHERE ELSE??? Holiday Inn Express. This is pretty funny... When i was checking in at the hotel, I asked if they had any King beds available. Quayd and I LOVE to sleep together in a nice big bed. The cute girl upgraded us to a King Suite. When we got to our room, Quayd looks around and noticed a nice big jetted tub. He immediately stripped down and hopped in the tub! Then he said, "That girl really hooked us up!" He had a nice big bubble bath going, then he realized that he could see the tv from the tub, so he had me turn on Sponge Bob. He sat in there watching cartoons until his water got cold.
Anyway, we made it to the Dentist bright and early. This guy was SO amazing, by the way. We loved him!!! The anesthesiologist was great to. Because Quayd is so scared, we decided to knock him out and get all of the work done. It only took about 45 minutes for the actual surgery. They took him to recovery and I was able to go sit with him. I HATED seeing him all knocked out. He was hooked up to monitors that kept beeping and stuff. Everything was ok, but it was still stressing me out. They told me it would be another 30-45 minutes before ho would wake up. They had the recovery room loaded with snacks and drinks for mom! I was too nervous to eat, but it was nice to have an ice cold bottle of water! I felt like I couldn't leave his side. I really hated that part. I was able to take my camera to recovery. (They wouldn't let me sneak into surgery, so sorry. No gross pictures on this post.) Here he is in recovery, before he woke up.
Sad, huh. They had to extract a molar. They packed it with gauze and tied floss to it so he wouldn't swallow it. As soon as he woke up, they took it out. Actually, he spit it out! It was a sick tooth. It has been for a long time. He has had a root canal and a few fillings, but they finally decided it couldn't be saved. The new tooth won't come in for awhile, so they had to put in a spacer. He also had to get some "silver teeth." While they were in there, they pulled the baby teeth in the front. So he had 3 extractions.
The big one was so nasty. You can kind of see all of the decay. He was so funny in recovery. He was saying such funny things! he is such a goof ball, even when he is drugged up! Before he started to wake up, they told me to talk to him and try to get him talking to me. He hadn't really responded much. I told him that I was there and that I had Bear Blank. I rubbed his face with Bear Blank and he smiled. It was so cute! And funny. He still loves his Bear Blank! He woke up a few minutes later. Shark boy was excited to leave his teeth under his pillow. He was worried that she wouldn't find them all though, so he put the in a ziplock baggie. The tooth fairy was excited!!! This was her first visit to our home. And boy, did she deliver!!! He got one 2 dollar bill and one gold dollar for each tooth. Nine dollars total. He was so excited! When he woke up, he looked under his pillow, but didn't find anything. He thought she must have forgotten. I asked if the teeth were still there but he said they weren't. I told him to look really good. Well, the money had fallen behind his bed. He found it and was so excited. Later, he was telling Brett how he couldn't find the money. Then he told him, "I thought 'What a rip off!' She took the teeth but didn't leave a payment!"

The little gap in the front is so cute! Of course, there are already teeth there to replace them, but they aren't up where they are supposed to be. Just since yesterday though, they have moved WAY forward. He just looks so cute and big! Here is a picture of when we first noticed the teeth coming to the surface. (See the rotten one at the top left? That is the one they pulled.) Here they are a few weeks later. And here he is being annoyed with his mom for taking so many pictures! Here are the shark teeth the night before surgery. Here is the after picture. I feel so bad that he has had so much trouble with his teeth already. I promise we brush twice a day!!! And do fluoride!! I have been so proud of him. He has been so tough and brave. He has not really even complained about pain or anything. He is such a good boy. Cute little shark boy.

the one about my ingrown toenail

I have nasty toes. They are so ugly and I get ingrown toenails all of the time. Right after Quayd was born, I had a pretty wicked one on my Left big toe and finally went to the podiatrist to have it fixed. They numbed it all up and fixed it. It has been great. I have not had any other problems with it. I still get them on my right toe though. When Janice was in town for Thanksgiving and She, Kandice and I went for pedicures, they cut my toenail pretty poorly and I knew at that moment it was gonna get ingrown. It started hurting within a few days. It has gotten worse and worse. Finally, last week, I knew I couldn't take it anymore. I called Dr. Jones and got an appointment. It was set for last Friday at 11:45 am. When I got there, the receptionist told me it was set for 10:45 am. She says I made the mistake, I say she did, but WHATEVER. We rescheduled for today. Since I had this done before, I knew exactly what to expect. I wasn't even nervous. It has been hurting for so long that I just wanted to get it fixed.

Excuse my ugly chipped polish, but here are the before pictures.


Brett and Quayd came to my appointment. It went perfectly. It has been about 5 1/2 hours and the numbness has worn off, but it still feels better than it did before. Poor Quayd. Brett said he about threw up when Dr. Jones stuck the needle in my toe. They had sprayed some numbing stuff on it, so I hardly even felt it. By the way, this is your warning.... the following pictures are pretty gross, but VERY COOL. What else would you expect from me!!! After he made sure everything was nice and numb, he just started clipping away. I didn't watch that part because I was afraid I would twitch when I saw it and I didn't want to mess it up. Brett tried to watch it, but he doesn't deal well with that stuff. ;) This was Dr. Jones taking the big nasty piece of toenail out of my toe. Here is the piece. Its hard to see, but it was all jagged and sharp. That is what was hurting so badly. Ok, now this is the gross one. Because I get these so often, he trimmed my toenail down and basically killed that part of my nail so it won't grow back. He had to put chemical in there and, I don't know why, but he had to poke this big stick in there. I watched all of that part. I couldn't feel a thing, so it was no big deal. When it was all over, he bandaged it all up. I think he found the brightest, most obnoxious bandage EVER!! Look, there is blood seeping out. YUMMY! I am so glad to have this all over with. It has been hurting so bad for so long. It hurts quite a bit tonight, but I know it will all be over soon. It was totally worth it!!!

the one about our FREE hot tub

Yah, we totally got a free hot tub. Brett's Aunt Debbie didn't want to take care of hers anymore and she told us that if we would come get it, we could have it. It is a super nice hot tub and we were totally excited. However, our free hot tub has come with quite a price!!!! This is the story of the free hot tub..................from HELL!

It was quite a process getting it here. It was a few weeks ago, mid-December. We had to move fast and get it to our house and fill it before all of the pumps and everything froze. Of course we had to drain it. Remember, mid-December. The already cold water practically froze the second we dumped each bucket. Once it was drained, we had to load it onto a trailer. (Not as easy as it sounds!!! Hot tubs are HEAVY!!!!) Then we had to drive the truck and trailer to our house and unload it. Did I mention that hot tubs are really heavy? We had a few helpers during the move, thank goodness, but the rest of it was all Brett and I. Mostly Brett. I have to hand it to him. He worked his butt off getting everything all hooked up. He researched everything about the hot tub and the electrical. He has a friend who is an electrician and he guided Brett through some of it, but Brett really did most of it himself. Before we started to fill it up, I climbed inside and cleaned all of the walls, filters, jets and seats. We hooked up the hose and it started to fill. Not without a couple of leaks though. They were fixed as they "sprung." It didn't take long to fill. Doesn't it look beautiful??
It took several attempts on the electrical, but FINALLY after more than a week until 11:00 every night, we got the wiring right. Of course it was full of ice cold water, so the pumps had started to freeze up. We had to use propane blower heaters to thaw everything out. It was still too cold though. Brett made this white trash tarp encapsulation thing and we finally got the pumps thawed out enough so we could start it up.
On the first try, it fired right up!!! WOOO HOOO!!! We knew it was easy sailing from there.

Or was it???

Everything is perfect with the hot tub. It runs. It kicks on at the appropriate time. Its not leaking anymore. It is clean. The chemicals are ready to go. But there is one major problem.........

ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! The dang thing won't get any warmer. It is also not getting any colder, which is good, I guess. But 52 degrees is not really my idea of a hot tub.
Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...................... Now we have to call a repair man.

And that is story of the "FREE" hot tub. Maybe I should say "FREE-ZING" hot tub. :(

the one about poor Kandice

Oh, my poor little friend Kandice. If you know her, you know what a NUT she is!! I love her to death. She is very tidy, organized and likes everything "just so." She really has a hard time when things don't go exactly as planned. That is why her current situation is so sad, and sorta a little funny. (Sorry Kandice!)

Last Friday she had to make a quick trip to Colorado. When stopping for a potty break, she slipped on the ice and hurt her arm pretty bad. She and I had planned a little girls night out for Friday evening. When she picked me up, she was telling me all about her little spill on the ice. As the evening progressed, her arm started to swell and bruise. Quickly, it got larger and more bruised. We really didn't have set plans for the evening. We had dinner and went to Wal-Mart. After Wal-Mart, I finally convinced her to go to urgent care. I was so excited!! You know how I love stuff like that!!!She even offered to take me home, but NO WAY was I gonna miss out on a possible broken arm. We went to Urgent Care and they did some X-Rays. Her arm was not broken, but it did have a weird blood pooling hemotoma thing going on and all of the tendons and ligaments were kind of a mess. I won't bore you with all the details, besides, I will probably get them wrong, but anyway, she had to go back the next day to get it casted. The cast is about to be the death of her. I feel so bad for her. But it's also a little funny.
You can kinda tell how swollen it was at Urgent Care. This is her getting her X-Ray.
This is how it looks today. She was able to take her cast off and look at how weird the bruise is.

Maybe this story isn't really that funny. Its actually pretty sad. But the tiny part that is funny is thinking about how ONLY KANDICE would slip on the ice and possibly break her arm. ONLY KANDICE would be so stubborn that I practically had to beg her to to go Urgent Care. ONLY KANDICE has a weird blood thing going on that, if not treated, she could lose her arm. And ONLY I would LOVELOVELOVE spending my girls night out at Urgent Care with my homegirl, Kandice.

the one about the New Year

Happy New Year!!!
I know, I know. I haven’t been very good about blogging lately. I don’t know what it is, but my life just hasn’t slowed down. I keep thinking that it will any day now, but it’s just not. Anyway, blogging is truly one of my favorite things in the world so I am trying so hard not to get too far behind in my blogging world.
I don’t really have any good reasons, but I am excited to start a new year. 2008 was a good year for us. I was so excited for 2008 to start, because 2007 was so rough. Mike passed away, Brett had his motorcycle accident and I lost my wedding ring. So 2008 came and now it is gone. I know this might seem weird, but I have always welcomed change. I love to experience new things and I don’t really freak out when big changes come my way. I look forward to the future and anxiously await new things. I am not really big on “resolutions,” so I don’t generally set them. Of course I have the standard ones… Lose weight, get healthy, be more organized, blah blah blah. But instead of worrying about what I will and will not do in 2009, I would like to reflect on 2008.
Here are just a few things that happened in our little world last year.
Quayd started indoor soccer, and later started AYSO soccer. He found a new love for this sport and really has no desire to try any others.
We got TONS of snow in 2008. It was the longest winter in the whole world!!
I joined the working world again. I hadn’t worked since before Quayd was born, so it was a huge lifestyle change for all of us. It has been good though. I substitute taught for awhile, worked in lunch lady land and now I am at the Holiday Inn Express. In fact, I remember mentioning a few months ago about a possible promotion. I got it by the way. I am the Front Office Manager. It has brought many new responsibilities, but I am loving it. Schedule is still good. I am home before Quayd gets off the bus.
We had major construction in our front yard this summer. They filled in our ditch and we got a sidewalk, grass and our own driveway.
I got a new bike!!!
Brett took and passed the EMT class. YEAH Brett!
I got my very first iPod. I have since upgraded from an iPod shuffle to and iPod touch.
I went to the Panic at the Disco concert in SLC.
Quayd rode his 4-Wheeler ALL SUMMER!!!!!
My friend Janice moved clear across the country to Kentucky. L
We took a weeklong vacation to Lagoon. We took our camp trailer and Brayden and had a blast!!
We all loved watching the 2008 Olympics.
Quayd started first grade.
My Great-Grandma Karren passed away.
Quayd turned 6!!!!
Brett and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary.
Brett spent 10 days in Washington DC.
I turned 30!
Ga got super sick and spent weeks in the hospital. It took quite a toll on all of us, especially her, but I am glad to say she is doing much better now.
Brett’s brother Brandon and his wife Brynn had a new baby, Brycen. And he is SO cute!!!!
Itty Bitty Kitty. Nuff said.
So that is kind of our year in a nut shell. We are excited to see what 2008 brings our way. Thank you for reading my blog. I promise that in 2009 I will try to be better about keeping everything current. But that is not a resolution!!!!